Life After Death
by Lunar Kitty
Summary: Inuyasha is a single father coping with the death of his wife. When he meets a vivacious EMS worker named Kagome Higurashi, will he fall in love all over again?
1. Chapter 1: Business Cards

By: Lunar Kitty  
  
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A/N: Okay, I've been writing this fic for quite some time in my cheapo dollar store notebook (BTW the dollar store rocks) and my sis has been begging me to post it. She says it's even better than Beast, which it probably is, seeing as I've gotten WAY off track with that story. I've started writing it in a notebook too, so I can list my plethora of ideas in a way that I can understand! LOL! Anyways I hope you all enjoy this fic, it's the exact opposite of Beast. Enjoy! - LK  
  
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Chapter One: Business Cards  
  
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The lithe little neko demon tapped his claws in annoyance on his computer desk, work forgotten. The aura in the office these days was so thick and miserable you could touch it.....and it was all because of him.  
  
His gaze turned, resting upon the inu-youkai...correction, inu-hanyou at the desk across from his. He was tall and muscular, but not bulky enough to be slow. He had a thick mop of silver hair, with the fiercest golden eyes the neko had ever seen. A pair of dog ears drooped atop his head, his eyes staring blankly at the building plans drawn on the paper before him.  
  
Everyone who came near him immediately paused in whatever they were doing to pass in reverent silence. Conversations ceased as soon as you stepped on the 28 floor, home of the architectural division of Shin Industries. The neko sighed, fingering a small, white business card in his hand. Steeling his nerves, he abruptly stood up, all eyes in the office immediately riveting upon him, save those of the hanyou. He walked without a sound to the inu's desk, stopping about a foot away. No sense in taking risks with a guy like this one.  
  
"Look, Inuyasha..." he said, nervousness entering his voice as the drooping ears centered in on him, clawed hands gripping the edge of the mahogany desk tightly. "I know you're going through a tough time right now, but you're starting to worry me. Here." he said, placing the slick white card on the desk, small black print barely visible, "This is my cousin's card; she's a really great psychiatrist. I'm sure she could hel..."  
  
The neko was suddenly cut off by the hanyou's fierce growl. "I don't need to see a shrink pussy cat!" he snarled, one hand reaching behind him to pull his wallet from his tailored dress pants. "Look, you see this?" he hissed, holding up a handful of rectangular cards practically identical to the one the neko had placed before him. "Eima W. Hacko, Psychologist. Fugiwara Mihina, Loss Consultant. M.L.H.C - Mate Loss Help Council. Even a freaking HUMAN association!" he roared, holding up a card that read, "Widowers Support Group".  
  
"I don't need your help dammit! Why can't you people just leave me alone?!" he practically screamed, claws digging gouges in his desk. With a heart- wrenching half-snarl, half-sob he tore out from behind his desk, knocking a picture frame from its perch near the edge. In less than a second he had made it to the stairs, setting off the fire alarm as he slammed open the door to leave the office.  
  
The neko, still in shock and slightly peeved due to the fact that water from the sprinkler above him was on, gently reached down to pick up the smashed picture frame. Its glass had shattered, distorting the image inside. A young woman with long, ebony black hair stared back at him, haunting brown eyes shining with laughter. A traditional kimono fitted her slim form, its red and white flower pattern making her pale skin almost glow with an earthereal light.  
  
She almost looked like a ghost.  
  
The neko shook his head sadly, his own ears now drooping in sadness. In a depressed fashion, he ran one of his clawed fingers over the fragmented glass.  
  
"Kikyo, why did you have to leave him?" he whispered, a single tear dripping down his striped cheek to splatter on the glass, distorting the face beyond recognition.  
  
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A/N: Sorry it's so short guys, but it's just the intro! I've got four chapters rough drafted so far, so R/R and tell me what you think, ok? And yes, this is an Inu/Kag fic. She'll enter the scene around the third chapter. - LK 


	2. Chapter 2: How about dinner?

Life After Death By: Lunar Kitty  
  
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A/N: Okay, get ready for a little bit of chaos! You will eventually find out what happens to Kikyo, but it'll occur in a flashback. This whole chapter is basically about Inuyasha trying to wing it on his own, without her help, but doing an abysmal job of it. BTW, I don't own Inuyasha, but I wish I did! - LK  
  
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"Damn" Inuyasha said, sopping wet hair dripping on the floor of his large apartment. That storm had come out of nowhere! Thunder rolled ominously in the distance, but his keen ears easily picked up the patter of little feet before they even reached him.  
  
He half-smiled as a little boy peeped shyly from around the corner of the nearest walkway. A head of black hair fell messily around two pointed little black ears, blue eyes with slitted pupils widening as the small form let out a squeal of excitement. "Daaaaadddddyyyyyyy!"  
  
Fiercely, the small child charged right at his father, slamming into his legs, not even bothered by the soaking wet fabric of his father's pants. "You're home! You're home!" he yelled, clapping his little clawed hands together in excitement. Inuyasha couldn't help but smile as he picked the little boy up and swung him around by his arms, eliciting a yelp of happiness from the young pup. He flipped him over easily, allowing him to dangle a few inches off the floor before he set him down.  
  
"FINALLY!" came an indignant snort from the next room over. Inuyasha looked up from his child to grin brightly. A very exasperated young woman, also the wife of his best friend, walked towards him, brown eyes shining tiredly in the dim light of the hallway, her long black hair thrown haphazardly into a loose bun created with two number 2 pencils.  
  
What suspiciously looked like finger paint dotted her clothing, and a large hole had made itself at home in her black, three-quarter length shirt. Her gray capris had grass stains on them, and her socks were filthy. Tiny pieces of dried up play dough fell from her hair like dandruff as she approached, littering the floor like confetti. Her hands supported her back, her large pregnant stomach protruding before her.  
  
"Thank the LORD you're home!" she said, sinking into a wicker chair beside the small table in the entry way that was home to a pile of bills and a dish for keys. She let her head fall back against the wall with a thunk, eliciting a slight chuckle from Inuyasha.  
  
"So I'm guessing you and Raiku had a good time today Sango?"  
  
Sango just groaned, not even bothering to lift her head from where it rested against the wall. Inuyasha laughed, his broad hands encompassing the tiny inu-child's that clutched onto his.  
  
"You know Sango, I really appreciate you baby-sitting for me on such a short notice." he said, ignoring Raiku's interjection of "I'm not a baby!" from six feet below.  
  
"You OWE me Inuyasha Taiyoukai!" she howled indignantly, "As soon as this little monster inside me decides to get the heck out of dodge, you are SOOOOO on diaper duty." Inuyasha grimaced, mentally reliving the days when Raiku had worn diapers, nose wrinkling in disgust as he recalled some of the more.....'charming' scents that had erupted from hiss son's behind on occasion. He tried to shut his ears as her onslaught continued, ignoring her cries of how he was going to have to buy her a new set of capris and a new shirt while he tried to weasel his way out of the original threat.  
  
"Um, Sango?"  
  
"What?!" she snapped, obviously a little irritated at his absence of ten hours.  
  
"How about I make you and Miroku dinner tonight instead?"  
  
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Sango had eagerly agreed to Inuyasha's proposal, trading an evening at the stove for Inuyasha's somewhat lousy cooking. Still, beggars couldn't be choosers.  
  
She had left in a hurry, with a quick excuse of having to go take a shower. 'Yeah' Inuyasha though, 'a shower with Miroku.' He laughed to himself as he walked towards the kitchen, wondering what he could possibly make that wouldn't end up on the walls by the time Raiku was finished.  
  
He decided on spaghetti for himself and his guests, settling on a plain hot dog and potato chips for Raiku. He had barely put the sauce for the spaghetti on the stove to simmer when he heard a loud crash erupt from the living room. Rolling his eyes in exasperation, he turned to look through the swinging kitchen door to see what kind of mess Raiku had made this time.  
  
His mother's hand painted vase lay shattered on the floor, the potted plant that had resided in it now sitting clumsily atop Raiku's head, freshly watered dirt matting into clumps amid Raiku's locks as he clumsily tried to claw it out of his hair. Inuyasha mentally counted to ten, thanking the lord he and Kikyo had decided on wood floors and not white carpet when they bought the apartment.  
  
"Raiku?" he said, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible, fearing that if he yelled he would make the four year old turn on the water works.  
  
"Y...yes Daddy?" Raiku responded.  
  
"Why did you break the vase?" Inuyasha managed to growl out, trying to contain his anger. Kikyo had been so good at this....why hadn't the gods given him patience. It was a virtue........just one he didn't happen to possess.  
  
"I didn't mean to Daddy! I threw my ball...and...and..." he whimpered, hiccups signaling the presence of unshed tears.  
  
"Okay, okay." Inuyasha snapped, making the little boy jump. Wincing inwardly, he walked forwards and picked the little demi-youkai up in his arms, protectively cradling the now sniffling child.  
  
"Honest Daddy, I d...didn't mean to, honest!" Raiku hiccupped.  
  
"It's okay Raiku, shhhhh..." Inuyasha mumbled, feeling extremely awkward. "Let's go get you cleaned up, okay?"  
  
"Okay..." the tiny child replied, eyes brightening a little. "Can I have a 'Mr. Bubble' bath?" he squealed, guilty conscience rolling away like storm clouds at the though of having a bubble beard. "Sure thing kiddo." Inuyasha said his nerves slightly calming down. I mean, how much destruction could his son cause in a bathtub?  
  
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Sango rang the doorbell impatiently; her dutiful husband Miroku Houshi, Inuyasha's best friend since pre-school, standing behind her reverently as she lifted the door knocker once again. It fell with a vicious WHAP! upon the door. They'd been waiting for five minutes already. What was the hold up?  
  
She leaned against the door, stomach rumbling loudly. She jumped up, however, when the dead bolt clicked back, smiling in relief as the door swung open to partially to reveal Raiku's head peeking through.  
  
"Well hey there Raiku!" said Miroku, "Can we come in?"  
  
"Sure! But be careful, Daddy's still trying to put out the fire." he said in a solemn voice.  
  
Startled, Sango pushed the door open, and got mooned. Raiku dashed off giggling at super speed as Sango's cry of "RAIKU, WHERE ARE YOUR CLOTHES?" echoed throughout the apartment, which was currently filled with smoke. The fire alarm was beeping incesscently, and the howls of an inu-hanyou caught on fire vaguely reached them from the kitchen on the far side of the apartment.  
  
"Oh my GOSH!" she yelped, grabbing Miroku and shoving him forward into the apartment. "Go help Inuyasha!" Miroku barely had time to catch his balance and take off his shoes as he dashed through the living room towards the kitchen, socked feet stepping on the forgotten shards of the broken vase on the floor.  
  
"SHIT!" he yelped, blood dripping from a large cut on his leg as he tried to hop on one foot. He slammed into the door stop for the kitchen door, and fell over in agony, landing viciously on the hard wood floor. Sango stared, frightened. She ran screeching towards Miroku, only to have Inuyasha come running, ears slightly charred from the kitchen to slam directly into her side. With a screech she tumbled backwards, luckily landing on something soft. Inuyasha fell forwards, face first into the floor with a curse as his bare bottomed son charged by. Wincing, he licked his now busted lip, his hands burnt, and parts of his white dress shirt still flaming. He viciously rolled on the floor to put out the smoldering fabric.  
  
Inuyasha groaned miserably, wondering if the gods had laid a curse on him.  
  
"Hey guys?" Sango said shakily from her seated position on the soft thing, which just happened to be her husband Miroku. "Yes?" her husband mumbled, face smashed into the floor.  
  
"I think my water broke."  
  
They had.  
  
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A/N: Okay, that's all I'm posting for right now. Chapter Three is currently under construction. I would go ahead and post it, but I've already written two separate rough drafts, and I'm leaning towards publishing the second. My sis, who's also my beta reader, thinks it's the better of the two. So I might just go with that one. Expect to see more out soon! This chapter is probably going to appear a little short on FF.net but it is five pages long in Microsoft word, so go figure. ( Oh, and pretty please R/R! - LK 


	3. Chapter 3

_A/N: Re-read this story and decided to update it. So here is a revised and brand new chapter III for your perusal, if you're even reading this ____ thanks to everyone who reviewed before. Hopefully this will be better than what it was originally turning out to be. _

Chapter III: A Series of Unfortunate Events

When the panicked call had gone out to dispatch that there was a small house fire at Shin Apartments in one of the neighborhoods in Manhattan, EMS worker Kagome Higurashi had happened to be in the neighborhood.

"God, it's starting early today, isn't it?" she growled, looking in annoyance at the empty seat where her partner was supposed to be. Trust Houjo to get Ecoli on the day that she had to pull a double. "Shit." She grumbled, shifting the ambulance into drive as she flicked the lights on, the thick traffic parting like a wave on the Red Sea, and she the proverbial Moses.

She roared down the city streets, pulling in to the parking lot to stare at smoke steaming out of an open window on the ninth floor. The other tenants of the building were milling around while the shrill sounds of a fire alarm rang throughout the apartment building, causing Kagome to wince as she unloaded her gear, a fire truck pulling up behind her.

"What's the situation?" she hollered to the nearest fire fighter, her kit on her hip.

"Small house fire, they put it out, but there's a pregnant woman in labor and several other people in the apartment, safe to go up, it seems to be only smoke!"

"Thanks!" Kagome called, her feet running towards the building and through the open sliding doors, her feet sliding on a tile floor slick with water from a sprinkler system.

Turning towards the elevators, she groaned when she realized they were stopped.

"Hey boys! Can we get these elevators working, ASAP?" she hollered, her fold-up back board and kit in one hand as she yanked open the door to the stairs and started climbing them at a fast clip, her booted feet hitting the stairs, also wet, with a small splash.

Heaving, she finally reached the ninth floor and slammed the door open, the smoke had faded, and her radio squawked with the various fire fighters comments as they worked on the elevators.

She rapped on the door, hard, her hands tired as she dropped her kit, "Hello?! Is there anyone in there?"

Receiving no response, she lifted her foot back and went to kick the door in, just as it swung open. Her foot collided with the face of the person holding the door, and the two of them went tumbling backwards, sliding across wet wood floors.

The blaring of the fire alarm went silent, and Kagome down to find herself sitting on top of a once-nice button up shirt and a firm chest, golden eyes staring at her furiously, a pair of dog ears pinned fiercely back to his chest, fangs protruding from his lips.

"Daddy! Who's your new friend?" a little boy giggled, naked as the man beneath her shoved her backwards, and slid out from under her, making a dive for the kid, sliding in a puddle instead and hitting the corner of the wall.

"I fuckin' give up!" he hollered, doubling over in pain as Kagome tried to figure out just exactly what was going on.

"Ma'am?!" another male voice yelled, Kagome turning to find a blood stained rug and a haphazardly wrapped foot of an intimidated looking guy about her age helping a heavily pregnant woman breathe, her face one of decided fury.

"YOU!" she shrieked, pointing at Kagome, "HELP ME!"

"Okay ma'am, I just need you to stay calm and breathe like you practiced at your lamaz classes, okay?" she said, reaching for an oxygen mask and placing it with a 'thunk' over the girl's face, moving her damp hair back from her neck to keep it from sticking to her.

"Now, I just need you to breathe, okay? I'm going to wrap this foot, and then we'll get you on a stretcher and out of here." The girl nodded as Kagome, trying not to panic, unwrapped the hastily bandaged foot in front of her, grimacing at the deep laceration on the bottom of the foot.

"Alright sir, I'm gonna give you a little pain killer and I need you to elevate this foot, immediately."

"Okay…" he wheezed weakly, coughing from smoke inhalation. Another knock on the door behind her made her look up as she saw two fire fighters walking into the house.

"Elevators are fixed, Kagome." One of them told her, lifting his helmet, his bright blue eyes winking at her as his long, dark hair dangled from its pony tail as he walked over, unloading his own kit and walking over to the downed youkai laying with his hands over his ears.

"Yo, you alright man?" he asked, his hand reaching out to roll him over.

"Kouga?!" the man snarled, holding his head. "Great, just what I fucking needed."

"Inuyasha." Kouga grimaced, pulling back his hand. "Shoulda known you'd fuck up again some time soon."

A naked Raiku ran by at that moment, Inuyasha's hand shooting out like lightning to grab him, dangling him upside down while Kagome continued bandaging the foot.

"Kouga, can you get Miss…what's your name Miss?" she asked, turning to the dark haired girl breathing on the chair.

"Sango."

"Kouga can you get Sango on a stretcher, and then this fellow while I check those two out?"

"Sure" Kouga said, "Long time no see, Miroku." He said, holding out his hand. Miroku bumped fists with him, causing the-now-identified as Inuyasha youkai to growl under his breath as he yanked his son up under his arms and padded down the hallway, his feet stomping angrily on the floor as he yanked open a door and slammed it, Kagome following closely behind.

"Mr. Inuyasha?" she asked, timidly, knocking on the door, "I need to examine your injuries."

"Don't need it!" a growl came as she heard the little boy yell "HEY, NO FAIR!" from somewhere in the room as something tore.

"Mr. Inuyasha, I DEMAND that you open this door right now!" she said, "Or I will knock it down!"

"You already knocked down my fucking front door!" Inuyasha hissed, yanking the door of its hinges and dropping it behind him, a now clothed Raiku on his shoulders. "I told ya, I don't NEED your help."

"You've got a laceration on your head and burns, of course you need help." She said, the darkness in the hallway keeping her face from the light.

"I'm a fucking hanyou idiot." He growled, "They'll be healed by morning. If you want to check anything, check my hearing, damn alarms have blown my eardrums."

She stepped back, the light in the kitchen catching her face, causing Inuyasha to pause suddenly.

"Kikyo?" he asked, his hand reaching out suddenly to grab the soft skin of her arm.

"Oi, Inu!" A growl came from the living room, where Miroku had just been loaded on a stretcher. "Hands off."

"What business is it of yours wolf?" he growled, not releasing her arm.

"That's my fiancé, that's what business it is of mine!" Kouga growled, abandoning his post as Kagome suddenly stood between the two of them, her face serious.

"Kouga, get off your damn high horse and get those people in my ambulance. Now you, sir, get your son and get to the hospital, or I'll have you arrested for disturbing the peace. Both of you just back the hell off, okay?!" she snarled, grabbing Miroku's stretcher and wheeling it out of hall to where Sango waited on an elevator.

"Sheez, touchy." Inuyasha growled.

"Yeah, who pissed in her cornflakes?" Kouga asked, his hand scratching the back of his head.

The two of them looked at each other and growled, Inuyasha walking to the window and shattering it with his fist. "I'm taking the easy way out, wolf."

"I hope you fall." Kouga called, Raiku waving eagerly as he sat on his father's shoulders and they whistled towards the ground, landing on top of Kagome's ambulance and denting the roof in with a thud as she began to curse at them from the outside.

Inuyasha put Raiku in the front seat of her car, and buckled him in, winked cheekily at Kouga and jumped in the back.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Kagome hissed, buckling down the two stretchers and getting everything prepped, "I do have sirens you know!"

"Raiku's always wanted to ride in an ambulance." He said, shrugging his shoulders nonchalantly.

Kagome flicked the sirens switch, causing Inuyasha to wince and flatten his ears.

"What I want to know though" he growled, "Is why the hell you look like my wife."


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